The Lone Nut and Moonshot Thinking: Lessons learned from #CUERockstar & #GAFEsummit

   

All week, I kept thinking that I needed to reflect on my experience at CUE Rockstar, a hands-on teacher tech camp that took place last week in Truckee. Such a gorgeous place! This is a picture of Donner Lake shot with  my Android phone on the evening of the last day.

I’ll never forget the Facebook message I sent Joe Wood after seeing his call for presenters on Twitter in February. “I don’t really think I'm a rockstar, but it seems like there just aren’t that many people out there doing tech with little kids.” Joe, like he always does, says “You’ll be great!” And so, I sent off my application and waited. I was very excited when I received the email that I’d been accepted. I went to school and encouraged my friends to sign up to attend. Three days of professional development for $149? In a vacation destination? Of course, they said yes. I was both nervous and excited about the opportunity to lead tech PD for CUE.

And then I saw this video. Trina Carter mentioned that she had seen it on the CUE Rockstar website. Watch it and then continue reading.

Trina told me, “Jen, you’re the shirtless guy! I’ll be your first follower!” Now I was really scared. I was going to have to raise my game for sure to be a Rockstar presenter. And I was even more scared when I saw the list of presenters. Kevin Brookhouser. John Stevens. Will Kimbley. Alice Chen. Diane Main. Ryan O’Donnell. Jeanne Feeney. Joe Wood. Tally Burkhart. Most, if not all, are Google Certified Teachers. REAL Rockstars. The kind you read about all the time on Twitter and in CUE Magazine. But, I am fearless to a fault, so I just got ready and crossed my fingers! Catlin Tucker said once, “It will either be fabulous or it will be over.” I adopted this as my mantra. I asked my daughter Hope, “What if no one comes to my sessions?” to which she replied, “Just go learn from someone else!” Smart girl. I WISH I could have attended the other sessions. There is so much to learn and there were so many amazing sessions. Long story short, I had a great time. My sessions were full and I discovered that it’s true what they say: the smartest person in the room is the ROOM. We all learned together and had a great time. We took a Rockstar hike. We danced. We ate ice cream. We tweeted. I loved hanging out with my Buckeye friends - Poppi, Trina, Connie, Kori, and Natasha! I can’t wait for next year!

But, in spite of what you might have heard about me, I’m not always the shirtless dancing guy leading people down a tech rabbit hole! Sometimes I’m that first follower. Take this weekend, for example! It was about 7:00 am. I was up early to let my new puppy out. She’s very cute, but she does not sleep in!

Since I was up, I decided to participate in the #satchatwc chat on Twitter, a chat moderated by Shelley Burgess that provides a weekly forum for West Coast educators to talk about current issues. As I was chatting, I started noticing the #GAFEsummit hashtag showing up on Twitter. It turns out there was another conference going on in the Bay Area- the Google Apps for Education Summit. There was no way I was going anywhere else, but I was able to follow the conference online by following the tweets! It was ALMOST like I was there. I sat there in my PJ’s and learned right along with the attendees. I so appreciate all of those educators who tweeted out tips and links during the 2 day conference. I learned how to email a video to my YouTube channel from any mobile device and how to add voice comments to a Google doc. I have two pages of notes just from following the Twitter conversation.

Sunday afternoon, someone tweeted out a link to the video from the keynote speaker. Moonshot Thinking. Check out the video and be inspired!

I think what I have realized most from these two different experiences is that we need the lone nuts- the dancing shirtless people willing to start a movement. We need moonshot thinkers who are willing to say out loud, “Let’s try this!” even if the outcome is uncertain. Sometimes I’m the lone nut, but I also want to be the first follower! When Kevin Brookhouser tweeted out today “Who’s following #GAFEsummit from afar?” I immediately tweeted back, “Me!” I’m so glad I did. Turns out he was looking for a remote correspondent to participate in his session via Google Hangout as he taught teachers how to do student broadcasts. I got to report about my experience following the conference via Twitter-- from my pool deck! I had no idea how it was going to go, but I fixed my hair and said yes. I am so thankful to know educators like Kevin who dream up something cool and just ask for someone to join. Here’s the YouTube video of our hangout. Good, messy fun. And I learned a lot. Next time, I’m presenting from my pool floaty!

So if you aren’t ready to be the shirtless dancing lone nut, I challenge you to be the first follower! When that lone nut asks you to dance, just say yes! After all, it will either be fabulous or it will be over!

Learn. Lead. Sparkle. A new blog for a new beginning.

 CC Photo by Abby Lanes on Flickr.

      Learn. Lead. Sparkle. This blog is brand new, but the idea behind it was born last summer when I was a part of the Area 3 Writing Project Summer Institute. After applying, interviewing, and being selected to spend 4 weeks learning with 16 other K-12 educators, it was the week before the SI was set to begin. For the first day, we had to bring an artifact, some kind of visual representation of ourselves. I began looking around and  had no idea what to take. It turned out I needed a closet remodel to find my artifact. 

      My husband's remodel of our small master closet required me to drag everything so that he could install the new shelves. As I unpacked my closet, I discovered that I owned tons of sparkly things. Gold glitter flip flops. T-shirts with bling on the front. Glamourous jewels, mostly fake. Even light up high heel shoes with glitter straps! 

      I always loved buying things that sparkle, but I had no idea how much until I pulled it all out of my closet last summer. I thought about my collection of glittery things and tried to remember why I started buying sparkly things. I'm definitely not a girly-girl or princess type. That wasn't the reason. It's not about being fancy. Sparkle is all about attitude. 

      We all have those dark days, when nothing goes right. About 10 years ago I had a lot of them in a row. That's when it all started. My first glitter was sparkle face gel. I decided that on days I didn't feel so sparkly, I would wear a little with my eyeshadow. Just a little visual reminder to myself that no matter how I felt on the inside, I could still sparkle on the outside! Every time I looked in the mirror I was reminded that I could suck it up and keep going. 

     Ultimately, I ended up taking my light-up shoes as my artifact. I have actually only worn them once- where I slipped very ungracefully and ended up on the floor! Even though I have retired the shoes, I still love things that sparkle. If you see me anywhere, look for something that glitters! Every day I wear something that sparkles- most days it's a giant ring (not real, of course) - and every day I try to have a positive attitude. For the first time, after 16 years as a K-5 teacher, I am thrilled to be starting new role as an elementary lead learner ( AKA principal) in a K-3 school. I am determined to learn, to lead, and of course sparkle! I hope you'll join me!

Hattie Ever After: Lunch with Kirby Larson

 It might not seem like many (or maybe it seems like a lot) , but I’ve met five authors in my lifetime. The first was Jane Yolen, in 5th grade, when I was selected as a Royal Reader. I don’t remember much, except that I rode on a bus to Sacramento! I also still have my signed copy of The Acorn Quest. How lucky I was to have met Jane Yolen? I never met another author until I was an adult, when I heard Alice Hoffman speak at Borders Books about The Story Sisters in Sacramento in 2010. This year alone, I have met three authors! I treasure my signed copy of Donalyn Miller’s The Book Whisperer and can’t wait for her next book. Erin Dealey visited my first grade class last week and taught my students about the writing process and poetry! Then, on Twitter, I saw this announcement for an event in Danville, California.        

         

Kirby Larson

Who: Award-winning children's novelist, Kirby Larson.

When: Friday, 15 February 2013 at Noon.

How much: Free. We will be serving a light lunch, so reservations are essential.

Where: Rakestraw Books.

     Luckily, I had the day off, so I made a reservation. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I envisioned lots of folding chairs, a podium, and a long line for signing books. We arrived early to buy our books so we would be ready! I couldn’t wait to meet Kirby, who was out doing two school visits that morning before coming to the lunch event. Then the woman behind the counter said, “Lunch will be next door at Amber.” We didn’t know how lucky we were. We really did have lunch with Kirby Larson. At a table for seven.

Rakestraw Books

Rakestraw Books The Bookstore In Danville
http://www.rakestrawbooks.com/

Amber

Amber was delightful and lunch was delicious. But it’s the conversation I will never forget. Kirby shared the story of Hattie, and her great-grandmother who inspired her to write Hattie Big Sky, and the next chapter of Hattie-- Hattie Ever After. She shared her story as a writer. And she gave us advice-- to help us reach and teach our little writers, and to help us as writers ourselves. She told us that writing was a little like being a dog. “You have to sit. You have to stay. You have to dig.”

Sit. Stay. Dig.

So simple, yet profound. She is so right. It takes that time to sit and write, to keep at it and write a little every day. And to write you must know, and care about your topic. Dig for information, for those feelings, and just the right words.

I can’t wait to tell my students about Kirby Larson. And then we’ll write!

Read Kirby Larson's new book!

From Goodreads.com

Hattie Big Sky: 2007 Newbery Honor

Book Trailer By MadisonLibRexburg 

Official website Kirby Larson 

Kirby’s Lane A Place for Readers and Writers

Kirby Larson interview

www.authormagazine.org

*originally posted February 19, 2013 on  my blog at jenniferkloczko.edublogs.org 

  

As I explained in another post, I’ve met five authors in my life. Three this year. I’m determined to make sure that my students know, love, and meet authors. Luckily, for my students, we have Erin Dealey right in our back yard. We’d already been reading her books, which are first grade favorites. We’d written Erin letters telling her how much we love to read. And we loved it when Erin wrote back-- Erin wrote individual letters to every student in our class on cool D stationery! And then... Erin visited our class! 

We were in the middle of Reader’s Workshop, busy wilth books, just like we are every day! She entered the room, sat down with a group of kids, and joined them with their reading. At some point, one student noticed her name on her bag. “Are you... Erin Dealey?” one girl asked. Good news travels fast and soon our class realized we had a rockstar in our midst! We settled in on the carpet and Erin began to share. She showed the kids her tattered draft of Goldie Locks Has Chicken Pox that she wrote in the pickup line at her daughter’s elementary school. She read us her story Little Bo Peep Can’t Get to Sleep. And then she taught us to write poetry! We are so lucky and thankful that she visited our class!

Reading Little Bo Peep

Poetry Lesson

Writing poetry

Writer's Notebooks

Erin Dealey’s Writer’s Rap

*originally posted on February 13, 2013 on jenniferkloczko.edublogs.org

Looking Back: My 2013 Reading Resolutions

This post was originally posted on my old classroom blog on December 31, 2012. I'm moving some of my favorite old posts from that blog to this one :)

“I am a reader, a flashlight-under-the-covers, carries-a-book-everywhere-I-go, don't-look-at-my-Amazon-bill reader. I choose purses based on whether I can cram a paperback into them, and my books are the first items I pack into a suitcase.” 

― Donalyn Miller, The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child

 I have always been a reader. From the time I was little, I loved books. Our house was filled with books. When my dad would take me shopping, I could always count on a new book. He never said no to a book. Ever. As an adult, I still love books. I belong to a book club. I trade books with friends and colleagues. My mom buys me books every time she goes to her local hospice store. And I can count on her having a stack of books for me every time I visit. I love that I teach in a school where the teachers are readers. We read professional books and books for pleasure. I have always been a reader. But this year, something changed.

I read The Book Whisperer.

Best. Read. Ever.

     

The first time I heard about this book was in the Area 3 Writing Project Summer Institute. As I began reading, I kept thinking about how the ideas in a sixth grade classroom could work for me, a first grade teacher, starting the first day of school. I wanted my students to read every day, to have choice, and to love books. But some of my students didn’t even know all of their letters and sounds. I struggled with how to get my 5 and 6 year-old students to make connections and get them talking about books.

  

I also read Aimee Buckner’s Notebook Connections, and got my students little reader’s notebooks that they store in a fabric book bag that hangs from their chair. Armed with a few ideas and a lot of enthusiasm, I began to experiment. And I began to read. Every afternoon after lunch, I read to my students. Now, this idea wasn’t new. But, for me, reader’s workshop in first grade was new. By reading to my students, I hoped to model strategies for my students as I read. After the read-aloud, they worked together to try out the strategies, first in teams, and then in their own notebooks. It wasn’t quiet. It was messy. But they were talking about books, writing about books, and loving reading more than I had ever seen in 16 years of teaching.

And then I heard Donalyn Miller speak.

“Work on the love, and the rigor will come.” I loved this. I’m not sure if it’s the exact quote, but it’s the thing that I remember most from that night. Along with the pictures of her students proudly showing off their book goal signs at the end of the year. And the doors of the teachers displaying the books they had read.

       

And then she said something else. “If you’re not on Twitter, you should be. Literacy is happening on Twitter.” Pajama professional development she called it. I had no idea how much or how meaningful 140 characters could be. Since joining Twitter, my reading life is on fire! I follow librarians, authors, teachers, principals, and writers. I have read books I would have never discovered on my own, and have a reading community filled with people I do not know, but that I know share a love of reading. 

This Christmas break, I have read 15 books in 10 days. One day I never got out of my pajamas! It feels so good. I’ve read young adult books, poetry, and fiction along with a few new picture books. I read Frankie Pickle and The Closet of Doom, and I’ve got the 1930 Newbery Award winner (along with others) in my to-read pile. I’ve read books that may win the 2012 Newbery, and some old favorites. And yet, I feel like I am just beginning! There are so many books to read, and although I am loving being on vacation, I can’t wait to get back to my first graders. We have a lot to talk about and so many books to read together! I am also looking forward to setting a personal reading goal for 2013, and helping my students set goals. I want to celebrate reading schoolwide, and have reading doors to shout out to the world that we are a school of readers. I want to blog more about books in the new year. I want to know about what you are reading, and I want to read every day this year. How many books might that be?

And so, like Donalyn Miller, please don’t look at my Amazon bill. When I am shopping, I pretend my dad is the one buying. He would never say no to a book.

What are you reading? I’d love to hear your thoughts and reading goals for the new year!